Kanelbulledagen

October 4 was Kanelbulledagen. (translation: Cinnamon Bun Day)

A day to celebrate and pay homage to warm, sweet, baked goodness? Why the heck not. Mark it on your calendar for next year, people.

My lovely sister-in-law gave me a heads-up on this. And lucky for me, because I might have passed right by the posters and bakery windows topped up with cinnamon buns without quite having figured it out. While Swedish cinnamon buns have been a tradition dating back to the 1920s, its namesake day was created  in 1999 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sweden's Hembakningsrådet (Home Baking Council). 

A little more online searching reveals that Hembakningsrådet was formed in 1949 by several Swedish food companies that produced flour, yeast, margarine and sugar. So in truth, my excitement about Kanelbulledagen is the perfect consumer response to a crafted promotional and marketing endeavor. But it would seem most of the Swedes and Swedish bakeries share my enthusiasm for Kanelbulledagen, since it's been 13 years since inception and going strong.

Throughout the day the bakeries, and supermarkets, churn out batches of the cheerful little brown, coiled buns. The best Swedish kanelbulle is in my opinion a bread roll that is firm but tender, sweet and a little buttery (without being goopey, toothache-inducing sugary), cinnamon with hints of cardamon, and the little pop and crunch of the requisite pearl sugar sprinkle. Another good thing about Kanelbulledagen - the prices are lower!

So on October 4, after running errands in Lund I made a point of joining the rest of Sweden by swinging by Ramklints Conditori, getting in line and scooping up my share of the warm rolls. At home, we warmed them up and served with tea, especially delicious with the cool autumn weather outside.

...

Since arriving in Sweden, I've been obsessively trying out local cinnamon rolls in search of the perfect creation. Below are my three favorites ... thus far.

Kanelbulle from Lund's Stadsbibliotek (City Library). Most libraries here have a
cafe of some sort tucked away in the building. It's a great idea: to take a break
from studying or to read your library treasures with a coffee and snack. 
Lund's main library makes their own kanelbulle, which the counterlady 
boasted were the best around, and she wasn't far off. Quite buttery
and soft, but delicious flavors, and what I imagine a 
Swedish grandma would serve up.

Impressively decorated chocolate balls

are also offered up at Stadsbibliotek. 

Delectable Danishes at the Stadsbibliotek. Chatting with my mother, 
I mused that the kanelbulle is to Sweden as the Danish is to Denmark.
She asked what the Danes call Danishes ... good question. They call it
weinerbrød, or Viennese bread! Yep, that's right - read it here.

My number one favorite kanelbulle can be found at Vendel Bakery
in Malmö. Great texture with the perfect blend of cinnamon and 
sweetness, organic, and big (that's the American in me, 
I want a good-sized kanelbulle for my 25 crowns).

Vendel Bakery storefront: a modest entryway at street level,
from which you walk down a few steps into ...

... a basement bakery. So cozy and warm inside, and such intoxicating
smells wafting out of the back room. It's a good remedy when I'm
missing Arizmendi Bakery in the Bay Area.

Vendel's cardamon rolls are exceptional too. Both are addictive.

Some of you might recall an earlier posting about Ramklints, in which I tried 
the kanelbulle. This time around the sampling was much more satisfying,
whether because of the freshness or my enthusiasm I can't say. No matter.

Ramklints actually had a poster addressing the cinnamon bun 
in the first person! "We love you, Cinnamon Bun."

Ruby loves you too, Cinnamon Bun!

Put A Bird On It

So my sister-in-law had mentioned to me that Malmö had some similarities to Portlandia (if you haven't heard about this TV series, be sure to do a YouTube search). After revisiting a few times and leisurely perusing Malmö ... I see it now. Malmö has its art scene, the green and sustainable efforts, a hipster vibe in certain areas, and its women's herbal supplement storefront - all of which Portland takes to a different level of course, according to Carrie and Fred.

But here's where Malmö can compete with Portlandia:

"Put A Bird On It!" For the full effect
visit the Portlandia clip here :)

OK, so I have to acknowledge that someone put a little more
thought into this one. This is a display by one artist, who has
created a whole flock of birds from entirely recycled materials.
It's birds and repurposing of materials - so Portlandia!

All the above photos were taken during one day wandering around Malmö. Once I began noticing the prevalence of the bird motif I couldn't keep from giggling and photographing each time I came across another example. The "Spruce it up! Make it pretty!" with birds movement seems quite sincere; nothing tongue in cheek, wink-wink, about it at this point.

And the birds keep on appearing seemingly whenever I turn a corner. "Birds everywhere! And now you can open for business!"

Moderna Museet

- I chose a new template/new look for the blog - some visual spring cleaning so to speak. Maybe it's that Scandinavian design aesthetic filtering in...

A few Sundays ago, Ruby, her Aunt Carola, and I visited the modern art museum in Malmö. Moderna Museet is a state-owned museum in Stockholm, and three years ago in a collaboration with the city of Malmö and Skåne province a subsidiary site of the museum was opened in Malmö in a renovated electricity plant. (To my former colleagues at the DeYoung and Palo Alto Art Center - check out the museum link and be prepared for website envy. I love how aesthetically it's so clean and efficient, and easy to navigate. Very user friendly, even in the English translation!)

The last Sunday in the month is "Family Sunday" and of course, I had to check it out. It's always fun to visit another museum's education programs and experience it as just a happy-go-lucky member of the art-loving public. The program is pretty much the same model as what I've taught at the DeYoung museum in San Francisco. I guess it's the standard these days - a kids tour and related art activity. 

The exhibit was "The Girl, The Monster, and The Goddess," artwork by Niki de Saint Phalle. Our group was small, the tour was short and sweet as it should be, and the art activity was ... a little underwhelming (as far as I understood it "paint a monster of your own creation" was pretty much the only prompt). Still the kids were focused and engaged; who doesn't like smushing and smearing paint around on paper?

One observation that gave me a good chuckle: walking into the workshop I realized the teaching artist was giving an introduction and, although I didn't comprehend a single Swedish word of it, I pretty much understood everything she was saying from having repeated it myself thousands of times over the past 13 years - right down to the part where she raised her hand and wiggled her fingers to explain how we can't touch the artwork because the oils in our fingerprints are damaging. I guess there is an universal mantra spoken by museum kids' docents worldwide. :)

To get a better view of the new facade, visit the link. I like the exterior
design, except that the name of the museum disappears 
once the cafe/giftshop window coverings are opened.

Here's our fearless art educator in action.

Getting up close and personal with the art - except for Ruby hanging 
out at the back.

I had studio envy.

I'm including this because Ruby took this photo of her aunt and 
I thought, "wow, pretty good shot!"

Here's the entrance to the education studio, visible and accessible 
from the adjoining gallery space. I liked that the studio is open 
at all times, even without workshops taking place, so that the 
public can see the ongoing children's projects.

Again with the studio envy! Lots of natural light and feels like a 
working studio space. The industrial clutter on the left is a remnant of 
the electricity plant, a nice reminder of the history of the building.

This is a nice group project on color - note the pixelized portrait
 being referenced on the left. For a better overall view of the project,
scroll up to the previous photo.

Another fun display in the studio, put together with audience 
participation - each thought bubble contains a viewer's speculation
on what is being portrayed in the artwork.

A nice touch to the coatroom lockers - each locker has an artist's 
name on its front and a quote on the inside.

NY Times visits Sweden!

My cousin, Debi, let me know about this slideshow that appeared on the New York Times website today! I love the NYT, good writing, great photos. The slideshow from the travel section gives a little flavor of Malmö, Sweden's third largest city and about a 20-minute drive from Staffanstorp. Malmö is a port city, culturally diverse and lots of folks commuting from Copenhagen (see Photo 1, the Öresund Bridge which links Denmark & Sweden). It definitely has more of an urban, cosmopolitan feel to it, which is a nice counterpoint to my days in Staffanstorp.


Out of curiosity, I searched the NYT for articles on Lund which is another city in close proximity to Staffanstorp. If you'll recall, I mentioned Lund in an earlier post, home to Ramklints Conditori. I love Lund -- the cobblestones, the soot-stained cathedral, the quaint homes and buildings, and the diversity and energy that hovers around the university. It's one of the oldest cities in Sweden, founded roughly a thousand years ago, and as an American I am intrigued whenever I walk through Lund and notice the constant reminders of its age and history. 


Two NYT links below came up for Lund, again from the travel section dated September 2011: one is a slideshow,* and the other the accompanying article. 

Lund Cathedral's clock

* Photo 7 - The astronomical clock in the Lund Cathedral, Lunds Domkrycka, is pretty fantastical! I remember doing my tourist pilgrimage here years ago - sitting in the cool, dim interior of the church, so quiet and subdued, waiting for noon to strike so the little moving figures would come out and play music. Then at 11:50, a busload of tourists came roving through and blocked my view. It was a little irritating, but comical in retrospect.

*Photo 15 - Roger says this eatery Bulong, translation is "bouillon," is fairly new. He ate there last year and mentioned that the soup was OK, but the owner was really nice and chatty - kind of the opposite of the Seinfeld soup nazi. I love soup and the idea of a soup bar! I'm eager to try out the offerings.

Torup Castle

A happy belated Mother's Day to all you moms!


On May 13 we had a great morning outing to Torups Slott, or Torup Castle, one of Sweden's medieval castles. It's a 15-minute drive south of Staffanstorp. The existing castle foundation was built in the mid-1500s (the estate likely dates even further back, but it seems this earlier history is foggy) when Skåne (Sweden's southernmost province) was under Danish rule. In the centuries that followed it had many owners and a colorful history which includes a tragic boating and drowning incident on the lake, an infamous Danish traitor, a castle fire and being the site of a farmers' riot against an unfair conscription policy.


In 1970, the city of Malmö purchased the property and runs it as a public recreation area, with running and nature trails in the surrounding beech forest, two historical museums, educational areas, and more. It's been nicely thought out, and seems popular with the locals and I'm guessing tourists as well. The castle itself is private and leased to the estate's heir until 2035. Unfortunately for me there are no public castle tours scheduled for 2012. Our morning there we visited the café's picnic area, and ran about the castle gardens which were picturesque and serene. 


We went back the following Sunday as well, to take advantage of the great weather. We walked along one of the forest paths, and although we didn't make it as far as the museum, Ruby and I ended up being fascinated with the snails and slugs of epic proportions. 


At some point I'll have to get my running shoes on and go exploring further.

At the entrance to the castle's gardens.

Ruby being forced to pose like a tourist.

A view out of one of my
childhood storybooks.

These stakes are for growing hops. I'm unsure if the hops are being 
grown for purely exhibition and education purposes, or if there 
is a nearby brewery benefitting from the harvest.

West view of the castle. The glass sculpture by Danny Lane didn't 
quite do it for me, but there are some stunning
sculptures on his website.

Small door for small people.

Running through the woods: the idyllic childhood experience!

Wood sculpture on the trail path, to mark the spot where two kids 
picking berries had a fairy siting.

It's charming ... in a goofy kind of way.

Snail/snigel. And a hefty one at that.

Slug/skogsnigel. This one is just freakish by my standards.

Billie the Brave